


Holidays in the Commonwealth

by JayceCarter



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: F/F, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-15
Updated: 2017-07-05
Packaged: 2018-09-24 13:16:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9732392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JayceCarter/pseuds/JayceCarter
Summary: This used to be Valentine's Day stories, but I decided to change it to a collection of all holidays. :)





	1. Nora/Maxson

Arthur folded his hands behind him, his normal pose. He’d found he walked around like that, without meaning to. He had to guess it came from years of never knowing what to do with his hands, and because he’d seen other officers do it, and thought it would make him look older, more responsible.

 

Now he did it from habit more than anything else.

 

“And then he screamed and jumped on a desk!” Knight Nora’s voice drifted from the mess hall.

 

He shuddered at the name, but she’d given no last name. She’d claimed she didn’t have one, which meant her title had to go on her first name. She sat at the table with Danse and two recruits, food spread out between the four, all having had more than a responsible amount of liquor if the smell and their laughter were any indication.

 

Her slender fingers wrapped around the neck of a beer bottle. Those fingers fascinated him. Maybe because she was different, she wasn’t commonwealth, she wasn’t civilian, she wasn’t brotherhood. She wasn’t anything like anyone he’d known. It also had something to do with the fact that she didn’t treat him as the others did.

 

He was a Maxson to everyone else, first last and always. No one got to know him any further than that name, nothing more to them but a legacy. She hadn’t shown a single acknowledgement of his last name, like it meant nothing to her. She’d stumbled one day, and gripped his arm to catch herself.

 

No one touched him.

 

She hadn’t let go right away, either. Those fingers had clutched to him, laughing and leaning against him like they were friends.

 

He’d never felt anything stranger, anything better.

 

The conversation stopped, and he realized they were all staring at him.

 

He straightened his back. “Good evening.”

 

“Elder Maxson,” Nora offered, formal enough his stomach dropped. He hated that title on her lips. “Were we being too loud?”

 

He shook his head. “No. Not at all. I was just wondering if you were hungry.”

 

She cocked up an eyebrow and looked down at the food in front of her. “Not really.”

 

Stupid. “Right. Of-of course. Well, have a nice evening.” He turned and walked away, screaming in his head not to run, not to make it look like he was fleeing.

 

But he was fleeing.

 

He was nothing but a stupid child still, too shy to talk to the one woman he wanted to speak to, too awkward to do anything but bark orders and make a fool of himself. He berated himself until he reached his quarters, closing himself in.

 

He knew better. Years of trying this, he should have learned. Too many partners who only wanted to continue to Maxson line, or who wanted a promotion, or who wanted whatever else they thought he could give them. Too many bodies willing to be used but not caring a damn about who he was.

 

And what does he do? He makes a fool of himself in front of his men, in front of Nora, in front of everyone.

 

A knock on the door halted his spiral. “Come on!”

 

Nora peeked her head in before sliding into the room. She held up two beer bottles and a grin. “I’m not hungry, Arthur, but I thought maybe you’d want a drink?”

 

He smiled at the name. Perhaps he wasn’t quite as foolish as he’d thought.


	2. Nora & Strong

 

“Leader mad.”

 

Nora put her hands on her hips and turned around, having to crane her neck to look up at Strong. “I am not.”

 

Strong looked over his shoulder at the trail of wreckage.

 

Okay, so maybe she’d taken a bit too much pleasure in killing anything even slightly dangerous looking. Raiders. Synths. Rad roaches. Cars. Mailboxes.

 

“Okay, fine. I’m mad. Aren’t I allowed to be mad sometimes? I’m 220 years old, and that gives me the right to be pissed off.”

 

“Why Leader mad?”

 

“Why indeed!” Nora kicked some rubble. “Do you have any idea what today is? Of course not, because you’re a man.”

 

“Strong super mutant. Not man.”

 

“Same difference. Well, for those of us with ovaries, today is Valentine’s Day.”

 

“Val-en-tine’s Day?” He sounded it out, slow, like the word felt strange. Then again, he didn’t go much over one syllable for the most part.

 

“That’s right. It’s a special day, an important one. At least it used to be.” Nora sighed and sat on a brick wall.

 

The bricks groaned as Strong leaned against the wall beside her. “What is Val-en-tines Day?”

 

“It’s a day for couples. I used to celebrate it with my husband. Usually the man gives the woman flowers or something. They have dinner.” She shrugged.

 

“Flowers? Why woman want flowers?”

 

“Because they’re pretty and they make us feel special and important, okay? It’s nice to feel special. I trudge through filth all day, and I am dirty, and I shoot things, and no one tells me I’m pretty. I miss when Nate would come home and give me flowers and tell me I’m pretty.”

 

“Leader good fighter. Pretty not matter.”

 

“It matters to me,” she said before hopping off the brick wall. “Come on. Let’s go shoot some more shit, and maybe I’ll feel better later.”

 

#

 

Nora tucked a can into her backpack. The day had gone by much the same, more shooting, more yelling, more blood.

 

Hey, at least there was red, right? It counted for something.

 

Strong had gone off on his own, probably to eat someone. Nora tended not to ask. They worked best that way.

 

“Welcome back,” she said when his heavy footsteps entered the house they’d holed up in for the night.

 

A hubflower was shoved in her face. “Leader pretty,” Strong grumbled. “Leader spe-cial.”

 

Nora took the flower in her hands and looked up at Strong’s miserable face. Didn’t he look just like Nate when forced to give a present to a displeased woman?

 

She laughed and threw her arms around the super mutant. He tensed, accepting the touch with the same begrudging attitude he’d given her the flower with.

 

A bullet struck the window from outside. “Come out!”

 

“Raiders,” Strong growled.

 

“I’ve got it.” Nora smiled and walked toward the door.

 

He put his hand out. “Strong hold Leader flower.” She handed him the flower, which he cradled as if important.

 

She picked up her assault rifle and gave him a mock salute. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Strong.”

 

“Happy Val-en-tine’s Day, Pretty Leader.”


	3. Fourth Of July

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cait and Hancock decide to try and help Nora celebrate the Forth of July, but being them, they go a little overboard.

 

“Wait, you’re telling me you blew up things just for fun? Thought you all were the responsible ones?” Cait had her feet up on the table, slouched back in the chair, beer in her hand. The flicker of the light caught her freckles.

 

“They were the ones who blew up the world. Don’t think that qualifies as the responsible ones.” Hancock lounged on the floor, hat set over his face like he was asleep.

 

“Well, we didn’t really blow things up. Fireworks were pretty, but they didn’t destroy anything. I mean, sure, a few delinquents would get in trouble for actually blowing things up, but the rest of us just used fireworks. We'd BBQ food, and wait until it got dark, then all sit outside and watch for the fireworks.”

 

“You know, sunshine, sometimes I think you’re just fucking with us. First you talk about hiding eggs, and then it was dressing up and asking people for candy, and now it’s blowing shit up for giggles?”

 

Nora sighed, dropping her head back. Okay, so it all sounded a bit far-fetched. Then again, that’s how her whole life felt anymore, like the place she’d grown up in was some fantasy from her childhood, a place of imaginary friends and fairytales. Sometimes she woke up and wondered if any of it happened at all. It was like telling stories to people that never happened.

 

Only Nick knew the truth, and a few pre-war ghouls who liked to get drunk and talk about the old days with her. Everyone else? They looked at her like she’d rotted her brain on chems.

 

“Yeah, I guess it does sound stupid.” Nora stood, setting her beer down on the table. “I’m gonna crash. You don’t have to come, Cait. It’s okay if you’re not ready to turn in.”

 

Cait watched Nora for a moment before downing the rest of her beer. “Yeah, love, gimme a bit. I’ll come in after I help Hancock polish off his whiskey.”

 

Nora nodded, leaning in to give Cait a kiss before retreating to her room, to the darkness that let her pretend everything of her past hadn’t faded away and become just another story that probably never happened.

 

#

 

Someone shook Nora’s shoulder, and she woke swinging. You didn’t live out there unless you hit back fast. The body rolled with her off the bed, blocking the hits, until Nora found her back slammed against the floor.

 

“Bit rough, but keep up the squirmin’ and I’ll forgive you.” Cait’s rough Irish brogue caused the shiver it always did in Nora.

 

Still, she couldn’t just give in. “Well if you didn’t wake me up like that I wouldn’t get rough.”

 

“Maybe that’s why I do it, because I like it when you get rough. No time for that, though. Come on, love, I got a gift for you.” Cait took Nora’s hand and helped pull her to her feet, a stupid smile across the woman’s face.

 

It reminded her of how damned far they’d come. It hadn’t been that long ago, Cait had been bleeding from her nose every day, pumping chems into her veins, nothing but a corpse trudging toward a grave. She’d snapped and snarled at Nora, and anyone else who got close, like a feral with a toothache. Things weren’t perfect, but damn, she couldn’t imagine not having her. Who’d have thought they’d get past that? That they’d be here?

 

“What’re you looking at?” Still, Cait never lost that defensive edge. She pulled her shoulders back, face twisting into a scowl.

 

“At something that’s really nice to wake up to.”

 

Cait laughed and threw Nora a jacket. “Yeah, well, ain’t got time for anything just now. You’re welcome to look at my arse on the way, though. Behave yourself and I’ll wake you up next time a lot better than this.”

 

“Will it include you naked?”

 

Cait winked over her shoulder. “Only if you’re really good.”

 

Nora pulled on the jacket and followed Cait out. No matter how many times she asked, Cait gave nothing away. They left Sanctuary, passed Red Rocket, and headed into Concord. She was tempted to give up and demand answers when a ghoul in a red coat waved at them.

 

“Hancock is involved? This can’t be good.”

 

“You know you always have the best time with me, sister.” Hancock pressed a kiss to Nora’s cheek. “See, we have a present for you. A little old world celebration for the Fourth of July.”

 

“The Fourth of July was yesterday.”

 

“Hey, two hundred years of orbital shift buys us a few hours leeway.” Hancock pointed at the tall building on the corner. “Keep your eyes there, sunshine.”

 

“Did you set up fireworks on top?” Nora squinted to try and spot anything on the roofline.

 

“Fireworks? You think this is our first cage fight? That’s amateur shite. Besides, it’s a present. Can’t half-arse a present. A couple delinquents like ourselves know how to show you a good time.” Cait threw an arm over Nora’s shoulder and pulled her close. “Happy Fourth of July, love.”

 

Hancock pressed a button and Nora covered her ears from the resulting blast. The entire building went up, the ground shaking. They were just far enough away that the rubble didn’t hit them, though dust rained down on them. Hancock and Cait laughed in the same drunken giggles that made Nora realize they’d set a building worth of explosives while plastered.

 

Once everything settled, Cait grinned over at her, but the smile slid off her lips. “Did you not like it? You looked so sad earlier, thought you were missing the old days.”

 

“You blew up an entire building.” Nora stared off at the wreckage, small fires still going.

 

“To be fair, the building was pretty shitty. This might even be an improvement.” Hancock grinned, tiny pieces of rubble stuck to his hat.

 

“You’re both drunk; you could have blown yourselves up.” Nora rubbed her eyes at the sudden headache, at the idea that either of them could have gotten themselves hurt over such a stupid plan.

 

Cait dropped her arm off Nora, gaze skirting away. “Thought maybe if we could celebrate like you used to, maybe we’d make this place feel a little like home for you.”

 

Nora shook off her worry and cupped Cait’s cheeks, pulling her into a deep kiss. She pulled away but kept a hold of her. “Thanks, but some fireworks don’t make this place home.”

 

Hurt cross Cait’s face, the woman so quick to assume the worst, to expect people to lash out and hurt her.

 

Nora silenced her with another quick kiss. “I don’t need fireworks because you make this place home.”

 

Cait froze, then smiled the same hesitant smile she always gave Nora, the one that said she had no idea how she’d ended up there and still expected someone to kick her out. “Guess that means you’re wanting me to wake you up naked, hmm?”

 

“As long as I wake up and you’re there? I don’t think I care.” Nora gave her one more kiss. “But, yeah, naked would be nice.”

 

 


End file.
